Real Stories of the K9PD
Real Stories of the K9PD is the 102nd arc in Housepets!. It is the first arc after the Housepets! site's update, and the first in the new layout. It is also the longest running single arc with 63 strips and having run over five months. It also introduced Mungo into the cast. Characters *Ralph *Fox *Mungo * K-9 Unit Officers *Fido *Investigators *Keene Milton *Sasha *Mr. Hartford *Duchess *Boris *Bino *Members of the Good Ol' Dogs Club *Rex *Grape *Daisy *King *Tiny Tum *Cory *Custom Ink *Jessica *Karishad *Daryl *Zach *Peanut *Sabrina *Tarot *Ralph Plot Soon after the events of The 4 Animals You Meet In Heaven, Ralph is briefing the K9PD about how they've been assigned to investigate the attempt made on Keene Milton's life. Ralph hands the case over to the newly initiated Fox. However, Ralph tells Fox he'll be introduced to his new partner, a canine named Mungo, who accidentally breaks the door down. Mungo is excited to have a new partner and hugs Fox, nearly crushing him with his strength. Mungo was previously part of the SWAT team, but his immense strength made him a "cost liability." Mungo immediately embarrasses Fox by mentioning how Officer Fido received disciplinary action for his romance with Sabrina on their way to the site. At the reservoir where Keene's limo was dumped, they find the despondent ferret sitting on the dock, and Mungo offers himself as a therapy dog. Keene is also upset for not being taken seriously by the detective, but he also has a huge list of people who would want him dead. The limo is retrieved from the water, but Mungo breaks the driver's side door open, revealing it was locked. There is little to no evidence remaining due to the waterlogging, aside from Keene's jacket, cash, and the love letter from the green husky in Heaven. The limo's keys were still in the ignition while the car was set in neutral with the parking brake engaged; ruling out the driver bailing at the last moment. However since the brake was on, this leads to Mungo discovering everything under the car was slashed (which he found out by lifting the whole thing). While searching for clues near a puddle of various car fluids, Mungo finds the pair of wire cutters used to cut the lines of the vehicle. Afterwards, they are left to secure the area, and leave immediately for a donut break. In the donut shop, the clerk mentions seeing a dog by the docks, and that they have video of it on the security tapes. They find on the VHS tapes footage of the dog leaving the scene of the crime after the limo had been pushed: Sasha Hartford. While Mungo wants to bring her in for questioning, Fox wishes to keep her from being implicated in the crime. Fox pleads with Mungo to let him talk with her so he can figure out what's going on before they interrogate her. Mungo agrees, and the two head for Mr. Hartford's house, where he reveals she had been taking obedience classes and that she is missing. While Mungo is worried they'll have to search the whole neighborhood, Fox knows where to find potential witnesses: the Good Ol' Dogs Club. Fox arrives to find Duchess at the door, who immediately labels him a traitor. As a result, she gets Boris to show the two police dogs the club's "hospitality." Mungo challenges Boris to punch him in the stomach like Houdini, but Mungo's stomach muscles are so hard that they injure Boris' fist with one hit. Inside the club, Bino is making a long-winded speech while the other dogs whine about the buffet. As Fox appears behind him, the other dogs begin to cheer and applaud; and while Bino at first believes it's for him, he soon becomes suspicious. Fox finally makes his presence known to Bino, and the two fight for use of the podium. Once Bino has been subdued, Fox informs the dogs that they will need to interrogate each of them for the whereabouts of Sasha (and that they can have their food now). Fox and Mungo interrogate various members; such as Griswold, Devo, Rex and Grape (who was there because she likes dog biscuits) to no avail. Finally they interrogate Daisy who, (speaking for the very first time something other than "Hi I'm Daisy") tells them that she had spoken to Sasha a few weeks back about the expectation all dogs had to obedience, and that she didn't like continuously being told what she should be doing by her owner. Daisy also explains that while Sasha appeared happy, she was not doing well when she returned from obedience training, and that she has a hideout in the woods that only a couple of dogs know about. Bino leads them to the house that King had bought for Sasha in The Present. Inside, they find Tiny Tum sleeping. He tries to make himself look rabid, but it comes off as adorable. He tells them that there is a legend that "the traveler" wanders inside on lonely nights, and that his mom knows Sasha. Tiny Tum leads them to Jessica's house, where Cory has been kicked out on his face. Inside, Custom Ink and Jessica are having an argument about "The Opener of Ways," but Tiny Tum informs his mom he brought the police. Assuming they are part of animal control, Jessica prepares to fight, but this is quashed when Fox tells her they aren't evicting them. Fox questions Ink about Sasha's whereabouts, using an old "Canine Cibble" ad as a reference. Ink tells him Sasha has been wandering at night, so they prepare a stakeout, only to find Mungo has been wedged in the door. The two stakeout anyway, and Sasha soon appears. Fox tries to have her explain herself, but Sasha blatantly states she trashed the underside of the limo. Fox tries to put every spin on it to prove her innocence, but Sasha continually states that she is guilty and she needs to be arrested. Fox refuses to arrest her, and to Fox's surprise, Sasha jumps on him and starts kissing him. Mungo tries to free himself, but is unable to. Jessica sarcastically suggests asking the "Opener" to help them, which Ink takes a face value. She prays to Zach, who comes out of the upper level, asking her not to write this down in the "Annals of Openerdom." Zach uses his cottontail to tickle Mungo's nose, and he sneezes with such force he is ejected from the doorway. As Mungo leads Fox and Sasha away on leashes, Fox argues there's something wrong with Sasha, as she is making unusual threats against capitalism. As Mungo fixes his scooter, Sasha tells Fox she can cut the brake-line and that you need to often cut two. Mungo radios dispatch but before he can finish his report, he notices Sasha and Fox have escaped their lines, leading him to give chase. Fox rushes Sasha to Tarot's house where Peanut is having a sleepover. Fox pleas with Tarot to look at Sasha, as he believes someone else is affecting her mind. As Tarot leads Sasha into her room Sabrina angrily confronts Fox for not sticking his sticking his neck out for Fido. Fox, frustrated, states that he is dealing with a lot of anger that he doesn't want to have, and he feels that she and Fido blindsided him and made him a laughingstock. Sabrina tells him to apologize, which he does, and she accepts. Sabrina and Peanut attempt to block the door to prevent Mungo from getting in, but Mungo manages to break down the door with his immense strength (though he does give a friendly hello), and they also fail to keep Mungo from advancing to Tarot's room. Fox pleas with Mungo to let Tarot work, and he begrudgingly does. Tarot performs a ritual: hitting Sasha in the head with her crystal tablet. After Fox snaps Sasha out of her daze, he asks if she intentionally hurt Keene. She claims that she would never do such a thing, proving Fox right, though Mungo leashes him again. Back at Police HQ Fox is explaining himself to Ralph: Sasha mentioned she'd cut the lines cleanly when the limo was trashed, and despite the huge puddle of auto fluids at the scene, she didn't smell like them. He also was suspicious of her imperfect narrative; though she wanted to be caught, she was also running away while at the same time making decisions like a pre-programmed robot. Fox comes to the conclusion she was brainwashed by the dog obedience school...except Ralph had already figured that out hours ago. Ralph walks with Fox going over the case, the perpetrator was Orwell Johnson, a member of PETA who had motive to kill Keene due to PETA's belief that animals should be outside of human jurisdiction, while Keene was trying to expand animal rights. He was identified as the limo driver, as the K-9s found traces of diazepam in the limo's glove box, he had a partial print match on the cable cutters, and he ran a sketchy dog obedience school. Ralph tells Fox that he was under the mistaken impression that he had to solve the case by himself and that police work is not a summer action blockbuster. Ralph explains he partnered Fox with Mungo because of Mungo's positivity and willingness to work with others prior to suspending Fox for two weeks, also mentioning that he will be repartnered when he rejoins the force. Months later at Christmas, Mungo and Sabrina visit Fox (while breaking the doorbell). He delivers the love letter to Fox, before Fox apologizes for his actions. Mungo gives him a (gentle) hug and tells him he was never mad at him, and that he could help him through his problems off the clock. As Mungo and Sabrina go off to have a Christmas party, Fox finally opens the card (which had been laminated). The letter tells Fox to go with Mungo to the party, accept his offer, and that they will be visiting him soon... Events *Fox is now a full time K-9 cop and receives a new partner named Mungo. *An investigation has been opened regarding the attempted assassination on Keene Milton. *Sasha Hartford becomes the main suspect in Keene's assassination attempt. *It is revealed that Keene's attempted killer was a member of PETA named Orwell Johnson who also attempted to frame Sasha. *Fox finally reads the card from the two female dogs from heaven. Trivia *This arc's title is a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Stories_of_the_Highway_Patrol Real Stories of the Highway Patrol]. *Originally Rick began uploading the comic only twice per week (Monday and Thursday) as opposed to three to coincide with the new website layout, however it has since returned to being uploaded thrice weekly. *This is currently the longest single arc with 63 strips, with 13 more than Call o' th' Wild and almost 30 more than Jungle Fever's 37. **This is one of three arcs with more than thirty comics. **However the entirety of Temple Crashers 2 has surpassed its run-time by nearly 7 months. *The doughnut shop in Dognut, Donut Unto Others, ''is another reference to ''Homestar Runner, being named after the toon of the same name. **The title of the strip is a reference to a joke made in the toon. *This marks the first appearance of Mr. Hartford, Sasha's owner. *This marks the first time Daisy has said anything other than "Hi, I'm Daisy!" *Bino references the threat Sasha made to him in The Present, and the dog house King also bought for her is used in this arc. *Jessica is still living in the home Karishad built in Flip That Den!. *Sasha's "Canine Cibble" ad is brought up from Noob Tube. *This is the third time Fox has referred to something in his life as a "summer action blockbuster." *Fox's quote in What Am I, Psychic? is used for the [[Housepets! Book Series|ninth Housepets! book]] "Don't Know How Stuff Works."'''' Category:Story Arcs Category:Comics Category:2016 Category:20+ Page Arcs Category:K-9 Unit Category:K-9 Officers